The Maltese Cross - the historical significance. The Maltese Cross is the distinctive emblem of the Order of the Knights of Malta, the oldest institution in the world whose mission is to provide humanitarian assistance in war and peace.
In the year 1120, Raymond du Puy became the first Grand Master of the Hospitaller Order. One of his first decrees was that all members of the Order should wear a white eight-pointed cross, and this has ever since been the badge of the Order.
The Maltese Cross - what does it represent?
It is white to represent purity and it is worn on the left side where the heart is, to indicate love.
The four arms of the cross symbolise the four Christian virtues: prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.
The eight points represent the virtues upheld by the Order: spiritual tranquillity, life without malice, contrition, patience in adversity, love of justice, mercy, sincerity and purity of heart, and endurance under persecution.
The Knights of Malta - their legacy. In 1530, the King of Spain handed Malta to the Knights. It was to be their home for 268 years. Malta's grandeur is owed, largely, to the Knights. Valletta, the capital city was built by the French Grand Master of the Order, Jean de la Valette, after the epic siege of 1565. From a heraldic point of view, the Knights' greatest legacy is the floor of the main vault of the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta that is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. The whole interior is virtually covered with the arms of two and a half centuries of the flower of European Catholic Nobility. The Maltese Cross and the arms of various Grand Masters predominate.
Ivan Mifsud M.A. (Oxon)
27 SouthStreet
Valletta, VLT 11, Malta
